New table tennis club for Lairg
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THREE Lairg men – Sam Barlow, Alasdair Marshall and Gavin Irving – have set up a new Table Tennis Club in the village.
Instigator Sam says: "I used to play at home as a teenager in Dumfries and Galloway, as we had a table in the house, but after leaving school I became involved in other things.
"I moved to a croft in Lairg in 2004 but last winter I spent six months on a Greek Island where I had some work to do in my profession as a blacksmith. I took my family with me, my wife Anne, daughter Flora aged four, son Hector aged two and my two stepsons, Michael Beavitt aged fourteen and twelve year old Max.
"It was while we were there that I was re-introduced to the sport of table tennis. They had a thriving club on the island with about 80 members and that was how the local inhabitants passed their winter evenings. We had a huge amount of fun every night with tournaments, matches and various games like ‘Round the table’.
"It was the islanders social life in preference to the pub or watching TV, and as well as social interaction and good fun, it provided moderate but not too strenuous exercise.
"I thought that when I get back to Lairg I’m going to start a club like this which will be a grand way of passing a winter night once a week. I put it to some friends of mine who thought it was a great idea and could prove to be very popular, so we began to make plans."
"We are having an open meeting in the community centre on Tuesday (2nd October) to which everyone is welcome. We plan to start officially on Thursday, 25th October, and have applied for funding from various places. This is for the purchase of three folding table tennis tables and other relevant equipment, which will be stored at my house when not in use." The club will have two sessions on Thursday nights from October through to April, the first one from 6.30 to 7.30pm for children aged between ten and 16 and the second from 7.30 to 9.30pm for adults.
"If full funding has not come through to purchase the necessary equipment by 25th October arrangements have been made to borrow items from the Golspie Club which meets on a different night. It is hoped to have tournaments within the Lairg club during the first winter after Christmas and possibly a match with another club, either at Golspie or Dingwall."
For more information telephone Sam on 07786273901.
